You know what else isn’t going to happen? Space Shuttle missions. That’s chapter is over and I’m sorry to say I never did get to see a launch. I don’t live all that far from Cape Canaveral either. I did stay there, right off the beach where they say you can not only see it but feel it take off, but alas I was a sleepy Calan and slept through the whole thing.

I read that they are telling kids who dream of becoming astronauts that they shouldn’t give up on their dream because in 20 years or so when they are finally through with the necessary training to become an astronaut there will (probably) be new means of space travel and exploration. It sounds like there will definitely be space travel through public companies in the future as companies are already gearing up, so I’d imagine those same kids can save the gazillion dollars and 20 years of time that an astronaut education will cost and just buy a trip to space. 😛

Perhaps it’s just a matter of time before, like most things that are for the elite, even space travel will become no big deal. Kind of like having a cell phone. Remember the enormous car phone contraptions that only super cool spies or super rich people had? Me neither, but I’ve seen photos. Now they give cell phones to homeless people. So, if space travel might be in our future, perhaps we should brush up a bit on our knowledge of outer space. Here are some freaky facts:

1. The ancient Greeks called our galaxy the Milky Way because they thought it was made from drops of milk from the breasts of Greek Goddess Hera. (That still seems like a reasonable explanation to me.)

2. The moon is floating away from the earth and inching closer to Venus. It gets nearly 4 cm closer to her each year. Mister Moon is shy but persistent.

2. In zero gravity space, all liquids form into a sphere. I think this will be great for trendy nightclubs.

3. The sunlight we see today is actually 30,000 years old. It struggled to get from the core to the surface of the sun. Once it hits the surface it takes only 8 minutes to reach us.

4. In space, we’re a few inches taller. Our spine is all elongated and stuff. I like the sound of this personally.

5. Cold welding occurs eventually by merely pressing two pieces of uncoated metal together in space. (It doesn’t happen instantly though as was once believed)

You know who would love to cold weld in space? Jim. He’s been pretty obsessed with metal lately…well, he’s always been into metal, but he’s gotten pretty serious and began sculpting. His first big projects were hats. We are both hat lovers and collectors so it didn’t surprise me. It’s a pretty daunting object to try to cut, hammer and weld out of steel though!

I took a little break from ceramics to finish up an art doll I had started a while ago. She’s a new addition to my lotus pod girl series. and is now available on my Etsy store. You can meet Wander and read her back story on my art blog. Here’s a sneak peek.

Her hat is inspired by Jim’s hat sculptures. It’s made out of a honey tin which i delicately ‘hammered’ and rusted with iron and acid and embellished with a rusty smashed bottle cap, a scrap of fiber and some acrylic paint.

THE ODD LUMINARY

I’m thrilled to announce that my GingerDead cards are now part of the Odd Luminary’s library and my Love Endures Dolls and Forgotten the Tiny Elf are in his lovely parlor awaiting a new home.

Love Endures No. 4 by Calan Ree

Love Endures No. 5 by Calan Ree

Forgotten the Tiny Toy Maker

Who is the Odd Luminary? Oh my, you’ll have to visit TheOddLuminary.com to meet him and his faithful owl companion, Bubo. Be sure to explore his extraordinary home and I bet you’ll fall in love with a curious ‘this’ or ‘that’ for your own.

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i’d love to wear a mental space suit and go exploring. inner space is certainly the next frontier after we “conquer” outer space. outer space might have quarks, black holes, asteroids, dust. but inner space is much more fertile because it is a living entity. besides, space is much too quiet.

p.s. i want to also comment on your beautiful dolls! i love how you take your inspiration from the spanish day of the dead (día de los muertos; love endures no.4 is classic).
forgotten the tiny toy maker reminds me somehow of a long-forgotten children’s story or fairy tale (hence, obviously, the name).
your art is wonderful and pure genius.

Today is my birthday. Sorry i’ve not posted in a while been extremely busy with work and life outside the computer. I saw this posting orriginally on Fail blog’s win site but when I saw it i had to share.

seraphine – inner space would definitely be more trippy than space. i feel like we get some interesting glimpses in our dreams.

thanks for the kind words on the art dolls! 😉

happy bday Amanda and welcome back! i love Jason Freeny’s work. I don’t remember if I’ve linked to him before but I follow him on facebook. He upadates with in progress work as well as finished pieces. He’s so damn talented and clever!

Ty both.
i never really left just stopped commenting i read every week when theres a new posting i’ve just gotten lazy and stopped commenting cause its usually 2am and im sleep typing and i never know if i’m writing in english or some other foreign language that i dont know.

Same here, i may not always comment do to far too little time these days but i ALWAYS read your posts. Love the new doll. Basha and Elusia guard my comic book collection. I don’t collect normal comics by the way so they fit right in. They are nearly eye level so anyone coming into the room will notice them.

It is an end of an era. No more launches for those seriously outdated machines. I will miss watching them launch but am also glad they are no longer in use. I fear we may never get back into space with the world economies in trouble. If there is one thing we BADLY need to be doing its putting money into the space program. So much of our technology today came from these programs including basic medicines.

Got another fact for your list. Time doesn’t work the same everywhere. It speeds up or slows down depending on how much gravitational force you are under. Planets and stars warp space and time by merely existing and moving. Cool huh?

totally cool. you know what else we got from those programs? glazes and underglaze options for ceramic arts. i don’t know the details but something they were using on the space shuttle ended up being applied to broaden the possibilities for color in ceramic glazes. nowadays ceramic art is a lot more exciting than it was say 15 years ago. it’s gotten a lot more edgy and i think these new options in finishes are a good part of the reason for the progression.